Murray is 0-4 in finals at Melbourne Park. “So I have to be proud of that achievement”.
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Defeat would mean an unwanted record for the player as no-one in the modern era has lost five finals at the same tournament.
“There’s not many tennis players that come out of Scotland”, said Murray.
“So I understand the kind of desire and will to win that is present”.
“It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past. It’s about what happens on Sunday”.
The Serb, who fell just one win short of a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2015, demolished 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in a sublime semi-final featuring two spellbinding opening sets. “It’s no secret we know how we play against each other”, he said. “Hopefully it can be a different result”.
Andy Murray has been reading “lots of baby books” ahead of the birth of his first child with wife Kim Sears.
“It was tough because he (Raonic) didn’t miss one first serve in the (third set) tiebreaker and he has one of the best serves in tennis”, Murray said. While his father-in-law was in the hospital, Murray at times thought his departure from Australia might be earlier than expected.
Murray finished off his ailing opponent with a sublime crosscourt backhand volley to bring up a match point, which he converted with a handsome forehand victor.
It is the first time two brothers have reached separate finals at the same grand slam since Lawrence and Reginald Doherty at Wimbledon in 1906 and the first time ever at the Australian Open. It was Raonic’s only service break of the match, with Murray fending off six other break-point chances.
Raonic left the court for treatment for a right groin injury at 1-2 in the fourth set. He needed a medical timeout, and in the fourth set had a massage from the trainer.
“I couldn’t push off, I couldn’t get up to serve, and I couldn’t change direction”, Raonic said. “I hope we can carry it on and play for many more matches like this”.
After having his serve broken to open the fifth set, Raonic walked back to his chair and angrily smashed his racket on the court surface twice, breaking it. “I guess that was just the whole frustration of everything getting out”.
But Murray stayed strong, regrouped and as Raonic’s body let him down in the last two sets, with an adductor strain slowing down his giant serve, the world No. 2 ran through the fifth set in double-quick time for his 4-6, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Murray’s older brother Jamie will be bidding for silverware on Saturday when he teams up with Bruno Soares to take on Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in the men’s doubles final. Vandeweghe is the only novice in the group, playing mixed doubles in a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career.
No. 2-ranked Murray had a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 13-seeded Milos Raonic in a momentum-swinging match that finished just before midnight. “I should be happy about that”, Murray told reporters after spending over four hours on court.
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“I think he still believes that he can lift the trophy here on the last day in this tournament”, she said.
